


Happenstance

by shmorgas



Series: Growing Back [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Boys Are Silly, Hopeful Ending, Love gone wrong, M/M, Then right, They have a lot of issues to work through
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shmorgas/pseuds/shmorgas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Team is still healing from the revelation of the mole plot. Kaldur begins his return home after two long years. But he runs into Roy on the way out. There's some dirty laundry to be aired...</p><p>Edit: NOW THERE IS NO MORE REPEATING TEXT!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happenstance

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cross-post from my tumblr which can be found at shmorgas.tumblr.com. Look under the tag of "my writing." 
> 
> I highly suggest that you listen to "White Blank Page" by Mumford and Sons and "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye. The second one is cliche but it was what I was listening to as I was writing.

It took nearly six weeks before Kaldur was cleared to leave the Cave Med Bay. In those six weeks, Dick, Wally, Artemis, and Kaldur have been debriefed on the black ops mission that they have carried out for almost two years. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for everyone. The League doesn't know whether to commend or condemn the Conspirators while the Team is stuck between absolute joy and incredible rage. There have been fights of monumental proportion.

The road is long but healing has begun.

Kaldur was rechecking his bags when he left the Med Bay. A long scar now traced the couture of his spine and it will be a long time before his magic would return to its full strength. Fortunately, Queen Mera was willing to work with him in the difficult journey ahead. She had visited him in recovery, doting on him like his own mother.

"I will help you. I will always help," she had promised between smiles and tears. AJ, her son, had simply clung onto the ex-mole, glad that one of his siblings would be returning. 

Finally dressed in his civvies, Kaldur pulled the drawstring of his bag and began the walk to the zeta-beams. He had already said his good-byes so there were no waterworks. He just wanted some peace. Let there be peace so he can recover.

Mal caught sight of Kaldur as the fish man entered the main hub.

"Take care of yourself Kal. Keep safe," Mal called out as Kal passed through.

"I plan to, my friend. Take care yourself," Kaldur replied, giving a nod as he left.

He was so close to returning home that Kaldur almost missed the computer announcing, "Recognized: 21. Red Arrow."

Roy exited the beam in full costume, finally standing tall as the man Roy William Harper, Jr. Kaldur's heart did the customary flutter but he remained calm. He spent five or so years dealing with his feelings for his best friend. This, despite all of the things that have occurred, is nothing new.

“Why the fuck did you not tell me?” Roy greeted Kaldur, the posture defensive and betrayal written all over his body. Kal has been getting that a lot. He just simply raises an eyebrow.

“You are a little late to be saying that to me,” he states calmly, “It was a job that only I could complete. The less number of people who knew, the better.”

“That is absolute bullshit! Wally was in only because of Artemis,” Roy retorted. Kaldur’s eyes narrowed.

“Wally was actually the first person that Nightwing approached about the mission,” he said with a slight warning tone. “Besides, I believe that you made it quite clear that we were never friends.

The archer had the good grace not to flinch. He frowned deeply.

“I was not myself when I said that. I was-,” he began before he was cut off.

“You were high off of heroin and I was the bad guy for telling you that Cheshire was the not the best partner in the search for Speedy,” Kaldur stated flatly. 

“I needed you Kaldur. You abandoned me when I needed you. You just dropped all fucking contact and left. What kind of bullshit is that?” Roy demanded.

“I was spending days at a time awake, taking care of you and the Team. I made sure you ate, you bathed, you had a place to live in, that you could get by. Do not tell me that I did not do anything for you,” Kal snapped, his temper flaring and his voice rising in volume. 

“That wasn’t I needed Kal! I just needed you. I was fine by myself!” Roy yelled.

“Do not fuck with me Roy! You were not okay and everyone knew it!” Kaldur yelled. The clone was stunned at the usage of the explicative and the raised voice. The bag was on the floor and the ex-mole’s gills were fluttering in rage.

“Was I just someone who paid your bills? A caretaker that you did not give an actual shit about? That was a complete betrayal to everything we once had. You abused my care for you! And for what? To fuck with Cheshire and to get the next high!” he hollered. His voice was echoing off the cave walls but neither party noticed. 

“THAT WAS NOT IT KALDUR!” Roy screamed, getting into the Atlantean’s face. “You are my goddamn world, right after Lian. I love you so much that I don’t know where the hell to begin! I’m a fucking grown man but it’s the end of the goddamn world if you’re not there.”

“Then why did you marry her?” Kaldur screamed right back. A small group was gathering in the corner of the Cave, watching the fight in trepidation. 

“Because your fucking fish heart doesn’t reciprocate my feelings!” was the oh-so-clever retort.

“I cannot summon the correct words or phrases to describe how much my ‘fucking fish heart’ loves you! I love you Roy! I have pushed myself to the last dredges of my physical and mental strengths. Do not say that I do not love you. You mock me in saying that!” Kaldur yelled.

“Then why did you leave me?!” Roy bellowed.

“I HAD NO CHOICE!”

The cycle began again as Roy and Kaldur finally experienced catharsis after three long years. They screamed about heroin and Cheshire, about obsession and sacrifice. There were tears from both the participants and the spectators. This confrontation was emotional for everyone and reminded them what exactly had been ruined in the mission.

“You guys are idiots.”

Nightwing had spoken up after the fifth run through. Everyone stared at him as he broke the obliviousness of the arguing pair. Kaldur clammed up while Roy narrowed his red-rimmed eyes at the Team. The domino mask had been abandoned earlier. 

“What the fuck are you guys doing here? GET OUT!” he demanded. The Team more or less complied save for Nightwing. Besides, they were going to hear about it anyway. There was really no such thing as secrets in the caves of Mt. Justice. 

“I reiterate: you guys are whelming idiots,” Dick stated, a small smile on his face.

“How so my friend?” Kaldur inquired. His face was taking a pallid tine while his voice rasped and quivered. Kaldur was a private man. The fact that the Team, and perhaps the whole League, heard this argument was mortifying beyond belief.

“All I could hear in that whole thing was how much you two need, and love, each other,” Nightwing said softly. He said nothing else and left the two by themselves.

Honestly, Kaldur was embarrassed. He kept his gaze to the ground and his mouth shut. He wring his hands and webbings as panic bubbled in him. He had revealed far too much to Roy. He was not suppose to air his grievances, his love, to the person who caused it.

“Here,” Roy eventually said, pressing a key into Kaldur’s hand. The archer’s look was steely and the line of his mouth was set. “You can come anytime.”

And those four words made Kaldur’s heart race faster than the raw confessions wretched from the screaming mess from earlier. Despite picking the whole fight, Roy was planning to give Kal a key. The six weeks between the end and the release from medbay did wonders for Red Arrow’s opinion of him.

Kaldur ran his fingers very gently over the side of Roy’s face. It was the best and perhaps only sign of affection he could give.

“Thank you my friend.”

Roy placed a hand on the back of Kaldur’s neck, pushing their foreheads together. Their eyes met as they remained in that position for a moment or two. The clone’s hand was burning the Atlantean’s skin. 

“Just get better Kal,” Roy urged. He was rewarded with a rare, full-blown smile. Kaldur responded in Atlantean. The real meaning was lost but it sounded like a promise.

The two remained in that position for a moment longer before parting. Kaldur picked up his bag from the floor while Roy returned his mask to its proper place. They did not look back as each made their respective marches towards the Team and Atlantis.

It wasn’t a permanent fix but it was something.

A beginning.


End file.
